It seems here someone is fueling the fire and my guess would be the United States of whiny Romania because I’ll be damned if Marta and Bela Karolyi are going to blame this on the US.
She was under aged. It has been proven but this is not the first time this has happened. What makes this such a big deal? Oh right because the US and Bela will get credit and the US will be bumped up to the Bronze medal status.
Back in 91 Kim Gwang Suk lied about her age but was able to keep the medal. The North Koreans were banned for 3 years and not allowed to compete. This is the EXACT same situation but will the IOC really stop China from competing for 3 years which will keep them from qualifying to the 2012 Olympics? I guess we will see.
This is just another case of cheating that the IOC and Individual heads of Federations has allowed for years and I will start a revolution if they strip the Chinese of their Gold medal without stripping every under age or under-handed thing done by the Romanians, Soviet Union or any other Country for that matter.
Example:
Tatiana Gutsu, 1992 Olympics Tatiana fell and did not qualify for the AA but the Soviet Union coaches lied about an injury to Roza Galieva and allowed Tatiana to compete in her place. The Soviet Union lied, broke the rules and it was over looked. This has been known for at least 15 years and the IOC did nothing about it knowing full well this happened.
Alexandra Marinescu, 1996 Alexandra admitted she was not yet the age allowed to compete at the Olympics and that Romania has changed her age to allow her on the team. AGAIN the IOC has known about this and done nothing.
Daniela Silivas See above
Gina Gogean See above
Kim Gwang Suk See above
The list goes on.
Tags: alexandra marinescu, daniela silivas, Dong Fangxiao, gina gogean, kin gwang suk, Shannon Miller, tatiana gutsu, underage gymnasts
February 27, 2010 at 3:59 pm |
I agree. I really hope the Chinese didn’t break the rules during this Olympics, but if the IOC is serious about this, why don’t they go after everyone else?
August 23, 2010 at 6:54 pm |
They will never fix the age problem. They should never have instituted an age requirement in the first place. If the IOC REALLY wanted to “clean up” gymnastics, there is a long list of better places to focus attention than the fact Gina Gogean was a year younger than everybody thought she was.
I talked about the Chinese hoax in 2000 on my site, but only because it was news. They just got caught. A lot of countries re-work gymnasts’ ages, and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to learn that Little Moceanu was in fact 13 and not 14 in Atlanta.
I say let them do what they want. If a girl is 13 today and can compete with the very best in the world, let her. Gymnasts have relatively short careers as it is (Chusovitina notwithstanding), so they should have all the opportunities they can to make a name for themselves in the sport.
Sarah!